Theft
A Love Story

Sometimes character voice makes the story, sometimes it overwhelms it. In this case, Carey writes characters that have such powerful voices, they make the plot tertiary. And unfortunately, the characters were rather pushy and domineering and that made them annoying. This is my sixth Peter Carey book,......more

You get the feeling Carey came up with the idea of writing this after watching BBC's Fake or Fortune, one of my favourite TV programmes. The discovery of a mysterious painting and the challenge of attributing it to an artist and establishing a provenance. It's a compelling journey. Carey's two narra......more

You could say one difference between what is termed literary fiction and commercial fiction is often simply the imaginative depth with which the author animates his or her characters. You get the sense throughout Theft that Carey knows his characters as well as he knows himself. As if he has access......more

I really didn't care for this book. It was a painful read. The story is told by two narrators: an artist, who is a bit crazy and a drunk, and his brother, who is mentally challenged (though you never really learn what his diagnosis is). It is told in a stream of consciousness and the chapters can be......more

The more I read of Peter Carey, the better I like him. I found "Oscar and Lucinda" tough sledding. "My life as a Fake" explored some interesting ideas, but wasn't altogether successful, in my opinion. In "Theft", Carey revisits some of the themes which clearly continue to interest him - Australian a......more